Cookie - 10 Questions
Cookie is a Rapper born and raised in the Greenwich Borough of South London, Thamesmead to be exact.
Although Cookie has a long history with music, he came up in the Grime era "Wiley, Skepta,Chip, The Movement DVD, Lord of the mics, Logan Sama, if you know then you know, Even though there was a lot of Mc’s in his borough, he was quickly known to be one of the youngest and one of the hardest and everyone in the area knew that he was good. Back then, it was different to how it is now but even still , he never started releasing music until years after and even releasing music on a serious level til as late as March 2020 that's when he dropped his first single "Dirty Spinner". Cookie linked with Reeso (his manager) who is also his childhood friend it happened naturally cause he was always telling Cookie to take music serious and they spent £1k on studio time before Cookie managed to even make a song but eventually he had a few in the bag and "Dirty Spinner" was the one that the mandem would say they were feeling all the time so they dropped "Dirty Spinner" on GRM Daily around May 2020 (during the first Coronavirus lockdown) however it still racked up like 100k views throughout the month….and the rest as they say, is history.
Cookie sat down with Wordplay Magazine to answer our infamous 10 Questions:
1. Wordplay Magazine: Can you tell me how it began what got you into making music?
Cookie: It was my parents. My dad was a DJ from when I was quite young, so I always used to be surrounded by a passion for music, my family are all very passionate about music. But growing up, in my primary school there was a lot of grime music so that's where I started to MC, that was for fun at the time, writing little lyrics. Then, as I got older, I started taking it a bit more seriously, there were groups in my area that were grime collectives, and one of them had a studio and that’s where I made my first song. The rest is history from there.
2. WPM: Can you tell me about some artists that have influenced you or you’d like to work with in the future?
C: I remember Tim Westwood, and Chipmunk went on his show, that was big, I remember Chip on his show, so I’ve always looked up to and respected him a lot. So, yeah, I’d love to work with Chip.
3. WP: Your new Track “Mobile Phone” is out, it's killing it and we’re all loving it. What was the influence for that track?
C: Yeah, out of my releases it's done the best so far. But, “Mobile Phone” is mainly about going against the grain, about the come up and where I’m from. I read something once that said, “you’re only as successful as the contacts in your phone book”. And where I’m from it's hard to get somewhere. I had to come up from my mobile phone and utilise my contacts from my phone.
4. WPM: Have you found it hard to make and release music during the pandemic this year and last?
C: I started releasing music properly in March 2020, as far as music videos and things like that, before that it was Soundcloud. So, my experience is releasing music in the pandemic. Because of that I’m hoping that when we open up it gets easier.
5. WPM: What's your proudest moment to date as an artist?
C: I think it would be the Capital Xtra play. From young that was a thing I wanted to do, get played on the radio. When that happened everyone hit me up, my friends, my family, everyone, it was an amazing feeling.
6. WPM: Have you got any advice for the readers who want to get into the mad game of music?
C: With music you can take so many opinions from other people, but you have to stick to what you want to do and do your own music. Stick to what you believe in. Stick to what you think has more substance, do what you want to do and have fun with it. Don’t focus on the pressure from others, stay true.
7. WPM: Are there any artists on your radar at the moment that you think we should be checking out?
C: I’ve been working with a guy called Skully, he has a crazy voice! He’s a drill artist but he has an amazing voice. He brought me to this label session recently and it was mad. You can find him on GRM Daily so definitely look out for him. I’m trying to get an EP out this year, drop a few singles before the EP. I’m going to stick to this sound, and I have some features to come out, not with some massive artists, but a few features. One with The Twins which will be massive.
8. WPM: What albums have you got on heavy rotation on your Spotify playlists?
C: I always listen to Nipsey Hussle - Victory Lap. He inspires me a lot, RIP. That’s a hard one but I listen to a lot of older music. I enjoyed Potter Payper’s last release too.
9. WPM: What do you like to do when you're not making music?
C: I like motorbikes, I do that outside of music. Cars and motorbikes other than that just going out with my friends chilling and trying to take over the world.
10. WPM: Tell me 3 things you can’t live without in the studio?
C: Hennessy, about a hundred instrumentals, I get through instrumentals like a mad man. And my iPhone.